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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Zebra anarchists

Finns are
probably one of the most rule loving nations on this planet. Everything goes by the
book here. It even surprises someone like me coming from Germany. Just one
example are those funny numbers you have to take whenever you want to get
customer service anywhere in Finland. This system is useful, no doubt. But even
if there is no other customer in a radius of the next 20 kilometers I can
assure you that you won’t be served before you take one of those numbers. Not
to mention all the regulations when it comes to the topic alcohol. But more on
that some other time.

All those
rules are of course important to keep the country as organized, clean and
international successful as it is. And people in Finland are glad to follow
them. The really low crime rate reflects that.

But there
is one thing where the Finnish rule following need stops working. And that is
when it comes to zebra crossings. Finns just don’t stop if there is a
pedestrian waiting to cross the street. After observing this for while I began
to doubt that zebras here even have the same function as in most other
countries. Maybe they meant something completely different like “try to not
to loose speed when you pass by here with your car”. But I was assured that this is
not the case – at least not officially.

But I have
to admit that last week when I was again waiting to pass the street finally one
car stopped and gave me way. I thanked the driver with a waving gesture being happy
to prove my observation about the Finnish zebra anarchists wrong. Then I
realized: the car was from Estonia.

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